Mr. Reindeer wrote:While I’m overall loving the book so far, the “objective” chapter on the original TP series is not very insightful. The quotes and anecdotes are nice (particularly thoughts Ontkean contributed in October 2016, a year after he had opted out of S3). But there is remarkably little new insight (perhaps inevitably, given how well Brad Dukes picked this ground over). It skips around the show’s production randomly, and barely grazes the surface of DKL’s involvement with the show post-Pilot (it barely even touches on the production of Episode 29, which must be loaded with great stories!). It also has some careless misinformation, and one gets the sense that McKenna doesn’t know the show super well: she says parts of the Pilot were shot in the Malibu woods and in a San Fernando Valley warehouse (untrue—that’s where the SERIES was shot)

Agree with you on feeling a bit disappointed by the Twin Peaks chapter. Same goes for the Twin Peaks Season 3 chapter, actually.

I wonder, though, if the mentions of the Malibu woods and warehouse for the pilot are kinda accurate though (sorta). The warehouse being where they filmed the Red Room sequence for the European ending (which, I think, was filmed very soon after they wrapped pilot filming in WA, and it was definitely on a Los Angeles soundstage). And maybe the Malibu woods is where they did the re-shoot of the scene of James and Donna in the woods in the pilot?

It's interesting about that scene - Mark Frost tells a story in the Secrets from Another Place documentary about how Lynch wanted to keep Lara Flynn Boyle and James Marshall out in the cold in WA for that scene and wouldn't let them get warmed up, and needed the right emotion from it. But I read or watched a James Marshall interview not long ago where he mentioned that scene actually had to be re-shot later. And here's the thing - when I rewatched the pilot last month (during a series review), I gasped at how very obvious it is that the finished scene in the pilot of James and Donna in the woods clearly contains footage of the two actors from the original shoot and also the re-shoot, and yet I somehow never noticed it. When James and Donna are standing close to each other and talking, before and after their kissing, notice Lara Flynn Boyle in her various close-ups. Her hairstyle (and the lighting on her) changes pretty drastically from take to take if you're paying careful attention. Kind of curly hair in the scenes filmed in the cold in WA, and hair combed very straight down in other shots. Is this something everybody else has noticed for years? The only LFB continuity error that always bugged me before this was the disappearing and reappearing right earring she wears in Episode 26 or whenever she follows her mom to the Great Northern.

The continuity of whether there is or isn't snot jumps about in the James & Donna scene too, presumably caused by the different temperatures when shooting. One thing I'd noticed - and this could well be to do with restoring degraded tape - but on the shots of James, the focus seems to be on the back of Donna's head while James himself is slightly out of focus.

bowisneski wrote:If you have the chance, make sure to listen to the audiobook too. All of the Kristine McKenna sections are basically verbatim, but Lynch tells some stories that aren’t in the book and some of the stories in the book get more elaboration and sometimes don’t exactly match up with the written recollection. It’s really interesting and makes both very worth the investment if you like Lynch.

Wow, interesting. I wonder what the writing process was. I wonder if the audiobook reflects an earlier draft before his assistants and/or McKenna transcribed and edited his portions? I’ll have to check it out. Does he narrate the whole book or just his “autobiography” chapters?

That’s a good question.

And just his halves of the chapter, but they also seem longer than his written portions. Though that may just be a misperception.

I just hit his first section in the audiobook. My hypothesis as of now is that DKL recorded all his chapters initially as oral anecdotes (perhaps with talking points prepared beforehand), and subsequently McKenna transcribed them, and he and McKenna edited them down for the page. I definitely think the audio is the raw version. Pretty much every account of DKL’s writing process confirms that he writes by speaking, and someone else puts it onto the page. So far I find the audiobook much more colorful and interesting than the printed version, and I agree that the narrative overall feels more expansive on the audiobook. Wonderful stuff.

See the latest double episode Podcast drop from Twin Peaks Unwrapped for an in depth discussion of the book, and an interview with the author. Covered are some spoilers, and other items such as why the audio book is different than the published text. Good stuff.

The audiobook has DKL doing a few semi-impressions when he quotes people, including a charming impression of Jack Nance for the “Get in the stall, horseface” story. His impression of his dad calling him and his brother home at night is also really great.

He also reveals a piece of trivia I’d never heard before: Jack Nance plays one of the men fighting in the alley in Eraserhead (I had always wondered why only one of the men is credited), so Henry is actually watching himself! I assume this was done out of necessity and not narrative significance, since it is impossible to tell onscreen (I still can’t tell which one is him), but a cool bit of knowledge nonetheless.

The audio book is so much better than i thought it would be. He's hilarious - "oh, you can read about that in the book." But David - THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE BOOK! Haha.

He's such a strange fish - on one hand it's like he doesn't give a damn about details, and on the other hand he seems incredibly hung on on the minutiae of things. I guess he just is who he is.

Some of his anecdotes and the way he describes things that he's experienced are so poetic. When he's describing buying the sugar water in Yugoslavia reminds me of his pre-TP:TR press show about the trees and the forest.

Another instance of inconsistent Lynch memory: he claims he turned down directing the film Tender Mercies post-Blue Velvet, but Tender Mercies (ultimately directed by Bruce Beresford) was released in 1983, three years prior to BV.

Not sure if this needs it's own thread or not, just adding it here since it is from Kristine McKenna as well

David Lynch: Someone is in my House

Featuring rarely seen multimedia works by the revered cult filmmaker David Lynch, this revelatory book shows how he applies his powerful imagination and visual language across genres.

David Lynch has always been in the spotlight as a filmmaker, directing some of the most iconic movies ever made, but as a visual artist, he is less widely known. Lynch delights in the physicality of painting and likes to stimulate all the senses in his work. This book brings together Lynch’s paintings, photography, drawings, sculpture and installation, and stills from his films. Many of these works reveal the dark underpinnings behind Lynch’s often-macabre movies. Others explore his fascination with texture and collage. Throughout, Lynch’s characteristic style—surreal, stylish, and even humorous—shines through. An introduction by music journalist and Lynch biographer Kristine McKenna, along with a thought-provoking essay by curator Stijn Huijts, offers fascinating new information and perspectives on Lynch’s life and career. This book reveals an unexplored facet of Lynch’s oeuvre and affirms that he is as brilliant a visual artist as he is a filmmaker.

“She would interview people and tell their memories; then I would correct them because they were all wrong,”

“I like a story in a painting and characters, and I like words in there,” he says. “I call it bad painting, but I like nature playing a part in the thing. I like totally mixed media. Getting this kind of organic thing — that’s what I love.”

Just don’t dare suggest that film-making, with its scores of cast and crew, is a collaborative endeavour. “It’s not collaborative,” he barks. “It’s not. You have help. It’s not that you share ideas and decide which is best. I mean, it might be that way for some, I don’t know. You have ideas, and the ideas are what you stay true to. Everything has to pass through one person for it to hold together.”

If the article link doesn't work, you can get to it through this tweet

bowisneski wrote:And just his halves of the chapter, but they also seem longer than his written portions. Though that may just be a misperception.

Just getting back to the audiobook after some life issues pulled me away from it for awhile.

The chapters on his early life definitely seem longer and to contain even more than the print book, especially the first one. However, his audiobook chapters become increasingly abbreviated as the book goes on, and many of the chapters on the films leave out a ton of stuff that’s in the print book.

bowisneski wrote:And just his halves of the chapter, but they also seem longer than his written portions. Though that may just be a misperception.

Just getting back to the audiobook after some life issues pulled me away from it for awhile.

The chapters on his early life definitely seem longer and to contain even more than the print book, especially the first one. However, his audiobook chapters become increasingly abbreviated as the book goes on, and many of the chapters on the films leave out a ton of stuff that’s in the print book.

That’s a little bit of a bummer with how great some of the earlier audio expansions were. I won’t complain though, as I wasn’t expecting it to be read by Lynch. And I’ve had the same thing happen with the physical book and audiobook. I’m picking up at Wild at Heart.